Home Ownership for Millennials

September 10, 2014

The industry has circled around this topic recently and frequently. What is preventing millennials from becoming homeowners? Home ownership has been considered the “American Dream” for many generations. Children graduated, got married, and started a family, most likely within the walls of their very own home. However, that “natural order” seems to be a concept of the past. There are a few undeniable facts that have contributed to the decline in home ownership by the younger generation today.

When this generation was graduating college, our country was smack in the middle of the greatest economic nosedive since the Great Depression of the 1920s. Jobs were unavailable. Those lucky enough to get hired were paid uncharacteristically low wages. And even still, thousands of companies were forced to partake in massive layoffs to prevent businesses from going under.

With the housing market tanking and quickly becoming an unreliable and scary investment, rental prices soared to outrageous rates. Millennials suddenly found themselves unable to afford living on their own or paying incredibly steep rent each month in overstuffed apartments. Saving money for the future became a luxury and rarely feasible.

Between paying off student loans for a college education that is now more expensive than ever, low employment wages, and a housing market that is still struggling to right itself, the goal of home ownership has been pushed back significantly. Down payments seem like a goal one will never reach. The good news? The housing market and government realize the loss at not having millennials active purchasers in the market.

As improvements are made and new loan programs become available that take student loans into consideration, it is obvious that these two warring issues will equal out over time. Home ownership is no longer slated as an intimidating or unreachable goal.